destroying fairytales
by Roses of Sharon
Summary: They aren't as good as you imagined. But then, no one is. Aurora, Belle, Thumbelina, Cinderella, Arielle.


**Summary**: They aren't as beautiful as you imagine. But then, no one is. Aurora, Belle, Thumbelina, Cinderella, Arielle.

**Disclaimer**: The originals belonged to Disney.

**Destroying Fairytales**

**-x-  
Sleeping Beauty**

Oh, you want my name? It isn't Aurora. It's Princess. You can address me as such; but perhaps _Your Highness_ would be better… maybe _Your Radiancy_. You have another suggestion? No, _bitch_ won't do at all. What, thought that would faze me or something? Dahling, I've had _a century _to think about this. To think about how I am as far above you as the stars above their pale reflections in the lake; as the flowers above their roots. Don't titter at me. I'm about to marry your _prince_, can you understand that?

It means that I'll have everything you'll never have. A man with that much libido and that much money and that much power? I may have been asleep for the last hundred years, but even I can identify the look in your eyes. You're jealous. And you should be.

You catty bitch, you think you can hurt me? You think you can even _touch _me? _My _prince may have wanted you last month, maybe even wanted you last week. But he's mine now, and I never let go of what is mine. _Never_.

Oh, walking away now, are you? Fine. Walk away. I _don't need you_. Do you hear me now, bitch? And I'll tell you something. I'll tell you one _last _thing. You think its all luck that your prince got to me first? You're wrong. He wasn't first. He wasn't second. And he sure as hell wasn't third. He was _eleventh_.

I chose him. You're not good enough for him, and so he came running to me, in a castle wrapped in thorns. The other ten weren't good enough for _me_, and I waited. I've been awake for _months_, and I waited for him. He's mine; always, always mine. You'll see.

Don't look at me with those big, wide innocent eyes. Don't make believe that you are any better than I am; don't pretend that you're a better person, a better woman. You're not. I'm just smarter than you. I'm just _better _than you. So what are you going to do now, run and tell your prince that I… what? That I _lied_?

And what makes you think he'll give a damn what you say, hmm? He won't. I see it in your eyes: you know I'm right. He won't listen to you. Oh, don't call me a witch. That's so tiresome. So unoriginal.

Silent? Bah. You've ceased to be even entertainment. Fine, then. You can leave; _tata_, my dear. Remember this when you see that crown on my head. That's the last place you'll ever see it. But don't worry. It will look better on me than you'd ever _dreamed _it would look on you. Trust me.

**-x-  
Beauty and the Beast**

What, you think _I'm _the monster? Look at the man whose castle you live in! He spent a lifetime in the form of a beast, and you think _I'm _the monster? Bah. My name, dear, is _Belle_. My name is Beauty. You think you can call _me _a monster?

Sure, I wasn't born with that name - just like I wasn't born with this face - but that's not important, see? The important part is that I bear this name and this face now, and that this name and this face is what he sees - what _everyone _sees. Oh, you don't see this, do you? But they don't care about you, do they? They don't care what you think. They don't care what you see.

Because, my dear, you've never played the right games. You are, sadly, _incapable _of playing the right games. You are incapable of pretending to love and pretending to hate and doing anything, _anything _for yourself. You are incapable.

You shouldn't have been born a lady. Perhaps if you had been a scullery maid, or even a serving lady, it would have been fine for you: you would never have discovered this glaring flaw. You would have lived your life content to serve and dream of the day when, by some act of grace, someone would come along and sweep you off your feet. You would never have _worked _for it.

How would I know? I know because once I was a merchant's daughter, and after that I _was _the maid. I cooked and cleaned and did all that I had to, and I smiled. Everyone loved me. Everyone adored me. Everyone believed me.

Everyone believes me now, you see? Everyone believes that I am worthy of the man I call my husband, everyone believes that it is he who is inferior, he who must live up to me. Everyone thinks that I deserve to live in this castle, to have servants so that I no longer have to cook and clean and dirty my beautiful white hands.

Those are the games you've never learned to play, my dear. You've never learned to swallow your hatred and your disgust and your distaste, because you've never seen a higher goal. You've never seen that there are opportunities everywhere to be grasped, if only you've worked long enough for them.

Don't look at me with those eyes. Those judging, incriminating eyes. You think you're so much better than me. You think you don't need my petty tricks. You're wrong. Every woman knows these tricks. Every woman uses these tricks. Every woman who succeeds.

**-x-  
Thumbelina**

You don't believe in reincarnation? No, no, I don't blame you at all. I don't blame you at all for not believing such a far-fetched idea. I mean, really, rebirth of the soul? So silly.

…I do, though, blame you for not believing _me_. Your Queen. My word is _law_, do you understand? Oh, yes, I can see it in your eyes. I am not law. My husband is law. My husband, and his despicable kindness, and his generosity and courage and grace and mercy and justness. My husband. The King.

But don't you see, my dear? This is the power of _love_. You eyes say that you don't believe me, but that doesn't matter. Lust and love and hate are, in the end, all the same. All the same. And right now, they all work the same: my husband loves me. He wants me. He fought for me and bled for me and died for me, and he is mine. Body, mind, soul. _Mine_.

Don't look down your nose at me. I may be human, but that does not make you so much better. _He _didn't think so, did he? Didn't choose you when you practically threw yourself at him. So you see? Your blood means nothing here. Nothing. Your precious pedigree and breeding value -

- oh, don't look so shocked. You've never heard it spoken of like this before? Let me tell you again: breeding value. That's all you have, really. Your precious blue fae blood and your name, and that's all you can offer him. That's it, do you see it now?

And he doesn't need you. He doesn't need any of that. Maybe you can snare a Lord with that, maybe a Prince, but a Crown Prince? A King? A King so beloved by his people, with hardly an enemy in the world? Please.

He chose me. He chose me over you and over your sisters and your cousins and every other fairy in this entire damn court, _do you hear me? _So get out of my rooms. Don't come back. Don't ever come back.

And don't even _think _about telling anyone about this. I see it in your eyes now, rebellion. I felt that way too, once. But it'll pass, my dear. You are young, still. You still resent the way I talk to you, and I will never tell you that that is why I persist in doing it. But you are young, and maybe you will learn.

Maybe you will learn that this is the way _real _women play. And maybe you will understand that it is a _real _woman he wants.

**-x-  
Cinderella**

You can't steal from yourself, right? If you were to take a few jewels out of your jewelry case one night, that wouldn't be theft, right? Of course not. Of course not. And it wasn't theft when I, too, pulled jewels from my stepmother's case one night. They were mine to begin with; my mother's things, and things bought with my father's money. It should all have gone to me; and it would have, had she not been there.

So it was not theft. It cannot have been, for all those things were mine to begin with.

But what did I do with those jewels, for me to still be dressed in rags? You forget, my dear. You forget the night of the ball, when I was the most beautiful woman there, and your prince's eyes were captured, ensnared by my beauty.

I bought a godmother. I paid off a fairy.

It wasn't too difficult, of course; what doors are closed to a beautiful young woman with jewels dripping from her hands? It took a flawless black diamond the size of a chicken's egg, and a string of peerless pearls, and she was putty in my hands.

So she helped me catch my prince. She helped me destroy what was left of my family. I took _everything _from them afterwards. Oh, you didn't hear about that? I don't think anyone did. Just like no one will hear about it when I destroy _you_. You and your family, you will disappear, and your money and your jewels and your assets will be mine.

But don't worry. I'll use it all for the best of the kingdom, you'll see. And what could be better for the kingdom than for its rulers to prosper?

The King would never let me, you say? No, he probably wouldn't; that _is _the problem with wedding a prince who would marry a commoner. But no matter.

I'm not as stupid or as good as everyone believes, you know. Not even close.

I _will _rule this kingdom.

It is really only a matter of time. You'll see. You'll all see. I didn't spend those years slaving away for my stepfamily for nothing, you know. I worked for those thirteen years, worked hard and long, and I'm stronger than you'll ever believe.

You'll see.

**-x-  
The Little Mermaid**

You think I left for the human? Foolish. I could never love a human: humans with their ugly legs and burning fires and hard, unforgiving earth. I could never love a human more than I love the Sea; I could, however, love my life.

Lucky Arielle, everyone always said. Lucky Arielle with the father who adored her and eleven sisters who doted on her, lucky Arielle who had everything and anything; beauty and grace and speed and a voice like gold.

Lucky Arielle who would never, never get to be free. My sisters left, you know. Left when they were sixteen, seventeen, fifteen. Off to marry rich lords and explore new places and learn new things. _Lucky Arielle_, they told me. _Lucky Arielle_. But they didn't see, just like you don't.

Sure, I was safe, trapped in that castle and surrounded by my father's guards. Sure.

The first time, it was a mistake. Virginity is an entirely different coin from marriage, in my world, and my father refused to spend mine. So I spent it myself. I spent it for a cheap peace treaty and a pocket full of gold and the most beautiful emerald I had ever seen and a perfectly round, perfectly clear crystal.

My father never knew. After that, though, my body was a less valuable coin. Oh, don't look at me like you know me. _Whore_, your eyes scream, but isn't that what you are, too? Aren't you out there now, selling your body to the highest bidder, whoever will pretend to love you and will clothe you in velvets and silks and hang their jewels around your neck, around your wrists, dangle them from your ears? Isn't that right?

You can only look at me like this because you failed. If it were you in my place, what would you feel, hm? What would you feel? That's right. Your eyes agree with me even as your mouth denies it. You are nothing more than a whore - an expensive whore, a concubine, maybe, fed and kept.

But me?

I grabbed my destiny with my own two hands and forced it to do my will. With these frail, delicate, pale hands I did what I had to. I did what you would do if you were stronger.

And I am not ashamed.

**-x-**

For a little added fun, this is something I posted on my Facebook today. Let's see who can get the most right, hmm? Let's say that… whoever wins gets a request? Anything you want, barring yuri, yaoi, and things concerning characters I don't know. (Actually, let's see if anyone _responds_. Maybe I'll post this on something else, too. Just for fun.)

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies  
2. Pick a quote from each one of them (use IMDb for help)  
3. Tag friends who would know the movies  
4. No googling/IMDb searching when guessing  
5. Guess all the ones you know even if someone already guessed it (but don't read their answers to get your answers - that's cheating). Everyone who guesses the movie will get their name by the quote. The person with the most correct guesses out of the 10 wins

1. I am determined to serve and give my life for my country... if our children can live safely for one more day it would be worth the one more day that we defend this island... For our homeland. Until the very last man. Our duty is to stop the enemy right here. Do not expect to return home alive.

2. Are you righteous? Kind? Does your confidence lie in this? Are you loved by all? Know that I was, too. Do you imagine your suffering will be any less because you loved goodness and truth?... Why should I be afraid to die? I belong to you. If I go first, I'll wait for you there, on the other side of the dark waters. Be with me now.

3. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend; legend became myth.

4. Yeah. Well, that sounds like a pretty good deal. But I think I may have a better one. How about, I give you the finger... and you give me my phone call. / There is no spoon. / It means, hang on Dorothy, cuz Kansas is going bye bye..

5. Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

6. The unconditional surrender of Germany has just been announced. At midnight tonight, the war is over. Tomorrow you'll begin the process of looking for survivors of your families. In most cases... you won't find them. After six long years of murder, victims are being mourned throughout the world. We've survived. Many of you have come up to me and thanked me. Thank yourselves. Thank your fearless Stern, and others among you who worried about you and faced death at every moment. I am a member of the Nazi Party. I'm a munitions manufacturer. I'm a profiteer of slave labor. I am... a criminal. At midnight, you'll be free and I'll be hunted. I shall remain with you until five minutes after midnight, after which time - and I hope you'll forgive me - I have to flee.

7. You wanna explain the math of this to me? I mean, where's the sense of riskin' the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?/Hey, think about the poor bastard's mother/Hey, Wade, I got a mother, you got a mother, the sarge has got a mother. I'm willing to bet that even the Captain's got a mother. Well, maybe not the Captain, but the rest of us have got mothers.

8. Poland is no longer alone.

9. You don't have jurisdiction here! / We aren't here, which means when we open up on you and shred your bodies with automatic fire then this will never have happened.

10. All right, you proved your point. You broke into my vault. Congratulations, you're a dead man... I'm gonna get out of the car and drop you like third period French... But see, a pinch creates a similar electromagnetic pulse, but without the fuss of mass destruction and death. So instead of Hiroshima, you'd be getting the seventeenth century.


End file.
